


Nightmare's Tears

by littleballofsunshyne



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Late Night Conversations, Nightmares, Sympathetic Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Sympathetic Dark Sides (Sanders Sides)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:35:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26900743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleballofsunshyne/pseuds/littleballofsunshyne
Summary: No one would watch a scary movie with Remus and Patton felt bad so he decided to join him. This pleased Remus but it was at the cost of a terrible nightmare for Patton. Remus comforts Patton but why would he come to Remus for help?
Comments: 2
Kudos: 28





	Nightmare's Tears

Patton felt bad. Or… guilty? Both? It didn’t really matter. He began to notice that Remus was struggling to fit in with the group. Well it was more like he didn’t care that others judged him or were disgusted by him. It was good he had that kind of confidence but it left him very lonely a lot of the time. Patton decided it was his mission to spend time with Remus and get to know better if the others wouldn’t.  
It was after the build-your-own-salad supper and Patton was cleaning up the table. (It always got messy, don’t ask) Remus was lying on the couch, scrolling through Netflix on the TV. Perfect opportunity. Patton headed on over, cookies in hand and ready to bond.   
“I’ll give you a cookie if you let me join you tonight?” Patton held out the cookie, waving it under Remus’ nose. Without hesitation Remus took a bite of the cookie still in Patton’s hand which shouldn’t have surprised Patton. Patton cautiously sat down beside Remus and in return he sat up so Patton wouldn’t have to sit on his legs. A couple seconds of awkward silence led to Patton taking the initiative of the duo.  
“What were you thinking of watching? I’m fine with anything myself. Just watch what you were gonna watch and act like I’m not here!” he chuckled, “Although, just warning you I get very invested in the characters so if something major happens I’ll probably be yelling at the screen.”  
Remus slowly nodded, clearly being cautious about how he was acting even though Patton was trying his best to melt the ice and make Remus feel more comfortable. He was sure that by the time the movie started Remus would relax. All Patton could wonder is what movie Remus wanted to watch tonight?  
“Well I thank you for putting your trust in me,” Remus said smilingly, “but as my brother so often says ‘this may be the biggest mistake in your life’ but you're stuck with me now! Tonight we’re watching the Sixth Sense and you’re gonna be so surprised!”  
An excited joy filled Remus’ face and Patton found that excitement to be contagious. He couldn’t help it. Patton knew that whatever this Sixth Sense movie was about it was gonna be graphic and probably very scary. That was just this twins vibe. While Roman preferred Disney or emotional romances Remus was the blood, guts, and gore thriver. He could never imagine him putting on Cinderella or Snow White for the night. Patton braced himself for the hour or two he was about to be thrown into. Blankets wrapped around him and a safety pillow to hide behind or cuddle intensely to calm himself.  
The movie began and it just went right into it with a psycho and a murderer. Yikes, he hoped Remus wasn’t taking halloween notes or Patton might have to lock his bedroom door and windows at night. But by the looks of it Remus wouldn’t need to take notes because it seemed like he had seen this film dozens of times, quoting it and looking at Patton to see his reactions. Which Patton did not hide. He would jump at the jumpscares, slowly curl into a ball behind his pillow, and yell at the characters to run away and not inspect scary stuff, which of course they did anyways because that’s how scary movies work.  
At one point, the movie got scary enough that Patton abandoned his comfort pillow, screamed, and hid in the crook of Remus’ neck and the couch. Completely hidden from the screen, he refused to look until the scene was over, causing Remus’ cold heart to fliker some warmth. Patton felt safe with him, not hiding from him. It was different, new, something Remus really liked.  
The movie ended late into the night and almost everyone else was in their bedrooms asleep. They had all come downstairs during different times of the evening to wish them a good night. Logan had come down first, unsurprisingly because he was very strict on himself when it came to a good sleep schedule. Then it was Roman who had retired from his writing for the evening to get some good beauty sleep. When Roman noticed how scary the movie was he made sure to hug and kiss Patton good night to give him some comfort. Dealing with Remus was already scary enough, poor padre. He glared at Remus as he left the room making sure his brother knew of the disapproval he felt about this situation. Janus was the last to come down. He spent time cleaning up the last dishes and late night snacks that were left out on the counter. Locking the doors and turning off lights. As he said his good nights to them he tossed over a large blanket just in case they got too tired and wanted to sleep on the couch. Patton gladly thanked him and immediately cuddled into it. Virgil never came down which wasn’t uncommon, Virgil tended to stay up late and Patton would have to come in sometimes and parent him so he wouldn’t pull an all nighter.  
They turned off the tv and tiredly wobbled to their feet, slowly staggering up the stairs they went their separate ways into their bedrooms, closed the doors and readied themselves for sleep.  
Patton went to the vanity sink in his room and looked in the mirror. Inspecting his face he washed off the dirt from the day's work and brushed his teeth, singing the ABC’s in his mind the whole time. After feeling all clean he smiled at his reflection before taking off his glasses and heading to the closet. He had already laid out his pajamas for the night which he was grateful for. He was tired enough that if they weren’t there he would’ve probably slept in his clothes. He put on his pastel blue lamb patterned pj set and some fuzzy socks. Patton felt all cozy and at peace, the fear he had from the moment before was completely vanished. He wasn’t scared of something grabbing his ankles from under the bed or watching him sleep from the closet. He tossed the absurd amount of stuffed animals he owned off his bed and they bounced to the side. Leaping in his bed he fell asleep immediately.

Patton was making blueberry pancakes. He’s excited to decorate them with banana slices and chocolate sauce and serve them to his family. He hears Roman come down the stairs so he turns around to greet him. Patton screamed. For this was horribly wrong. Displayed before him was Roman Sanders, yes, but he was dead. Brutally murdered by the looks of it. Dull eyes and blood all over the floor. He screamed for help but was frozen in place, he couldn’t move. If he did it would make this real. Remus comes running down the stairs shortly after.   
“What’s wrong, Patton?” Remus says casually as he stands beside the body. Patton is taken aback by how he’s acting, he stutters out a response.  
“Y-y-you don’t see… the bod-d… Roman!” he practically sobs out.  
“I know! He’s such a drama queen.”  
Patton gives up on him and calls for the others. Virgil rushes downstairs.  
“Patton what’s wrong? Roman! What happened, we need to do something! Patton call 911. Patton!”  
Patton tried, he really did but he couldn’t move.  
“I… can’t. Virg I’m sorry.”  
“Patton this is serious,” Virgil got to his feet “You have to-”  
He was cut off by Janus who stood behind him and snapped his neck, killing him instantly. He fell down beside Roman, his hoodie absorbing the blood.  
“Janus what did you do!”  
Patton screamed at him still in the same spot as he’d always been in. He didn’t respond, just stared at him with eyes terrifyingly white. He was possessed. Janus went back upstairs passing Logan who slowly walked down.  
“Logan, thank goodness you’re here! I need your help. Virg and Roman are hurt. I need you to…”  
Patton stopped. Logan had the most gruesome features looking like a zombie and creepily dragging himself towards Patton as he ate his own flesh. He turned back to Remus who was inspecting his nails and seeming unfazed. Remus looked over to Patton with a concerned look on his face.  
“Patton, you don’t look so well. Have you fallen ill?”  
“No I’m fine. But everyone else is not! Please can you not help me?”  
“I don’t understand, morning Logan.”  
Remus moved aside to let Logan into the kitchen and towards Patton.  
“Stay back! Please you’re scaring me.”  
Remus said one last thing before fading away.  
“Patton, pay attention, your pancakes are burning.”  
Patton turned to look at the pan where instead of pancakes inside there was Thomas.  
“Patton, you’re not helping.” Thomas said disappointedly before Logan grabbed a hold of Patton and dug his nails in.

Patton awoke and yelled out Thomas’ name. His hair stuck to his forehead in sweat, he shivered feeling so cold and scared. This was the first time in a while since he had a nightmare and couldn’t remember what he used to do to calm himself. He needed comfort from someone but he would feel guilty if he woke one of the others from their much needed sleep. He decided to go get some warm milk for now to calm his nerves. Cautiously he left his room, just a couple of hours ago he felt cozy and at peace, now he was the complete opposite of that. Uncomfortable and on edge. He left his door a crack open for some light source to guide himself down the dark, quiet hallway.  
After getting some milk he realizes it didn’t help. Too scared to be frustrated he races up the stairs so nothing gets him from behind. And although his mind tells him to return to his bed, his feet take him in another direction. And although his brain says this is stupid his hand chooses to knock on his door. And although his mind says to leave now and not bother him his body chooses to wait for a response to the gentle door knocking. Which did happen, but since his mind was against this whole idea he didn’t know what to say when Remus opened his door.  
“Can I come in?” was all Patton could say. Every word filling him with more and more guilt, more and more urges to just go to bed and deal with this silly thing himself. Remus nodded while stepping to the side and gesturing for him to enter. Patton did so and sat down on Remus’ bed as he closed the door.  
Boy oh boy, if Remus wasn’t so tired and caring he so would’ve made a sex joke right now. I mean Patton was sitting on his bed at night! What held him back was Patton’s demeanor, totally different from his usual happy, bouncy, parental aloofness. He was scared and vulnerable. He had come to Remus… for help. This was serious so Remus chose to act serious. He sat down next to Patton and slowly started rubbing his back, this made Patton's shoulders relax.  
“What’s going on, Patton?” he asked quietly as to not startle him. The moment he said this it set Patton off. He word-vomited everything to this twin, the whole nightmare story, in fearful sobs near the end. Remus listened the entire time, pulling him in for a hug to try and be comforting.   
While he may be “dark” creativity not all his ideas were gross and evil. Some ideas were helpful, that’s the point of creativity, right? This idea was exactly that. He knew just what to do to help Patton rather than meaningless words he was going to take action.  
“Alright sugarda- ahum, come with me. I wanna show you something,” Remus held out his hand and Patton latched onto it, he led him outside of his room and over to Logan's room where he knocked on the door, Patton hiding behind him. A shuffle was heard from inside, then a click of a lamp turned on, Logan opened his door and looked at the two of them, examining them to see what was going on.   
“Patton? What are you doing awake at this hour,” Logan parented him, “you should be sleeping now. Do you need something Remus? Are you and Patton here to pull a ‘prank’?”  
“No, no,” Remus chuckled, “We’re just here to see if you’re okay. You haven’t had any zombie-ish tendencies or behaviours lately, have you?”  
“Of course not, that is a ridiculous question, why would you…” Logan pondered but as he spoke he saw the fear in Patton’s eyes and realized there may be something important going on that he was unaware of and by the looks of it that was a feelings issue so he didn’t need to be involved, “nonetheless, I am well, in healthy form and in need of rest. If you are okay I shall return to my sleeping and I hope you two do the same.”  
A relief washed over Patton’s face as Logan closed his door. ⅕ of the way there. Next Remus dragged him over to Virgil’s room. The room looked dark and drafted cold air but it seeped out a cool blue artificial light indicating he was still awake. Remus tapped on the door a quick three times and it was quickly answered by Virgil opening it a sliver to see who it was before opening it fully.  
“What do you need Remus? Patton?” Virgil’s eyes quickly glanced back and forth, a worried tone set in, he knew something was wrong, “Is everything alright? What happened Patton? You look like you were just crying! Who did it to him Remus? I swear-”  
He was cut off by Remus who shushed him for the house was asleep and he was raising his voice.  
“It’s all right, Virgie. Patton’s okay. He was just worried that you weren’t so we’re here to see that you’re a-okay.”  
“I- uh, yeah… I’m fine. Wh-why would you be worried about that? What’s going on?”  
“Nothing, that’s all, thanks stormy.”  
“Um… okay then? And uh, hey dad?”  
Patton looked up to meet his gaze and matched Virgil’s small smile.  
“Yeah, kiddo?” he said in a small voice, fearful that if he spoke too loud he would shatter this reality and re-enter the nightmare.  
“I don’t know what happened but if it makes you feel any better, I love you no matter what, okay?”  
“Thanks Virgil,” he secretly teared up in an overlapping amount of emotions, “I love you too.”  
As Virgil put his headphones back on, they exited the room and Remus closed the door. Next they went to the one room Remus was not excited to visit: his brother’s. His brother was always known to be grouchy around him because… well Remus didn’t really know why but when Roman was awoken from sleep he was even more grouchy. Remus was prepared to face the worst side of Roman because he knew who he was doing it for. Now to be fair, Remus was over exaggerating this, well a little bit. He knocked on the door in a pattern that he and Roman had made to communicate when they were little. It was a simple pattern but it worked every time to inform the twins that each other was at the door.  
“What?” Roman yelled drowsily and Remus and Patton entered his room. It was completely dark inside except for the stunning silver moonlight that illuminated Roman’s face. He was clearly awake, propped up on his elbows as he lay on his bed, but his eyes were covered with a very Roman eye mask.  
“Don’t overreact dear brother, I’m just here to prove that you’re alive and well.”  
“Prove?” Roman took off the mask and let his eyes adjust to the dark, “prove to whom? Oh, Patton, what are you doing up? Please don’t tell me you watched two movies with Remus! That's way too late you should be sleeping. Hah, listen to me, sounding just like you now dear padre.”  
Patton had held back his tears for too long and now they burst forward. When seeing Roman’s face all he could see was his dead body from the nightmare, the image plagued his mind and he was so scared and relieved at the same time to see Roman. It was so confusing.  
Seeing Patton burst to tears, his princely instinct kicked in. He sat up and motioned for Patton to come over. He did and Roman immediately wrapped him in his warm blanket and a strong hug. He put Patton’s head on his chest and soothingly rubbed his head, letting his tears soak into his chest.  
“I’m okay, it’s okay, everyone is safe.”  
As Roman comforted Patton he shot a what-did-you-do look at Remus. Remus, being innocent for once, tried to show a face of it-wasn’t-me-at-least-intentionally-this-time-I-swear. He wasn’t sure if the message got across but he did his best. Roman seemed to at least understand that he was helping and not harming and eased up a bit on him. Patton calmed down and Roman let go of the hug. Patton got to his feet and chuckled.  
“Sorry for the waterworks show, I-uh… guess I am a bit sleep deprived.”  
“No need to apologize to me,” Roman smiled, glad to be a hero, “if you ever need me you can always come in.”  
There was a pause in the conversation as the two smiled, enjoying the happy, loving moment. Roman then turned to his brother who was waiting by the door, leaning against the wall and pretending he wasn’t listening.  
“Now you on the other hand,” Roman pointed at him sharply, “you don’t have the free pass, so leave, I need some quality beauty sleep and you two better do the same!”  
With that he put his mask back on and cuddled back into his blanket, sleeping. Remus and Patton left the room and closed the door with a soft click. As they walked to Janus’ room Patton spoke up.  
“Hey Remus, thank you for doing this.”  
“No big deal dear Patton, it gives me something to do” Remus brushed it off casually but Patton stopped walking and grabbed Remus’ hand making him halt and turning to face him.  
“No, I mean it. For real. This is so much more than I came for. I know you didn’t expect me to come to you, that I’d go to someone else for comfort. I don’t know exactly why I did it myself to be honest. I just, I feel like I can trust you, that you won’t judge me and you’d be honest to me about your opinion. That if you could help me, you would and I guess that’s why. You really went the extra mile to comfort me tonight and it is a big deal for me so seriously, thank you.”  
Patton smiled at him, he looked so beautiful in the moonlight that fell on him through the window. His damp golden hair stuck to his face like honey, his soft, round, youthful cheeks shone with happiness, even his tear stained eyes sparkled. Making Patton happy gave Remus a friend. By being nice, people liked him, and came to him for comfort. He wanted to feel this feeling more and more. He decided he wanted to feel this good feeling again tomorrow. And then the next day and the next. Until he always felt this way! For now though he went to a room of comfort for him. One he trusted and was always able to go to. Janus’ room. Opening the door instead of knocking was something he had always done so he did it again in hopes that Janus would recognize it’s him.  
“Janus? Are you awake?”  
“No, I am very much asleep right now.”  
“Well, um… you’re not feeling possessed right now right? Cause if you are we’d like to know.”  
Janus turned on his lamp and laughed.  
“Possessed? As you can tell I am very much possessed right now. Remus you should be sleeping, why are you out of bed? Why did you bring Patton along with you? Don’t get me wrong, I love these late night conversations because they so make sense and are truly worthwhile but why must we talk about possession right now?”  
“Remus, what if this is how it all starts? With Janus being possessed and than killing people and then and than-”  
“No, no, no Patton it’s okay. Janus was being sarcastic… it’s kinda his thing. Trust me he’s fine. I’d know if something was up. Right Janus?”  
“Ugh… fine, fine. You’ve caught me. I am not a possessed killer but you better leave me before I do become one!” Janus teased as Remus laughed and hurried Patton and himself out of his room. Remus linked arms with Patton and walked him back to his room.  
“See, everyone’s fine. It was just a nightmare probably caused by the movie. Nothing more than that. Now you can sleep soundly and when you wake up in the morning you’ll see everyone up and well.”  
“Yeah,” Patton agreed, leaning on Remus’ shoulder as they walked together. “You’re right.”

With Remus’ help Patton got all tucked into bed, nightlight by his side and a sea of stuffed animals surrounding him like a shield. Remus sat on a small chair beside his bed promising not to leave his side and to protect him while he slept. As Patton fell asleep Remus counted the stuffed animals to pass the time. One particular one on the bed stood out to him the most: the green dinosaur plushie. It was a gift Remus had given to him after he won it at a carnival. Everyone thought he had given it to him so he could one up Roman’s gift and he didn’t deny that. His first intention, however, was for it to show his appreciation of Patton. How he spent time with Remus and stood up for him, it was a gift to show Patton his gratitude. He didn’t expect Patton to think much of it, he had so many other stuffies why would his matter? But seeing it in the stack it made him believe, at least for a fraction of a second, that maybe he could belong in the group, just like his dino was in the pile, he could fit in and be a part of something like the others were. He didn’t focus on this thought for long because his mind was taken over by a heavy cloud of sleep which he let seep through. He slept the night away by Patton’s side dreaming of being part of a team, dreaming he belonged.

**Author's Note:**

> I've returned from school mayhem to deliver this :)
> 
> If you have any suggestions or ideas of what I should write next I'd love to hear them! Feel free to leave a comment and have a lovely day beautiful people!


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